Must read: FTSE 100 higher ahead of key jobs data, M&S
ii’s head of investment rounds up the morning’s big news.
11th August 2025 08:50
by Victoria Scholar from interactive investor
GLOBAL MARKETS
The FTSE 100 has opened the week on a positive note following gains in Asia and on Wall Street on Friday. Marks & Spencer Group (LSE:MKS) is among the top gainers after finally restoring click and collect services after its major hack 15 weeks ago. Rolls-Royce Holdings (LSE:RR.) is trading slightly lower after an announcement that it is selling its UK pension fund to the Pension Insurance Corporation for £4.3 billion. Elsewhere in the UK, Martin Sorrell’s ad firm S4 Capital (LSE:SFOR) is up sharply on the back of a merger approach.
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Asian markets are in the green thanks to an upbeat mood across global markets. However financial markets in Japan are closed for Mountain Day. China’s consumer price index came in flat in July, above expectations for a drop of 0.1% and down from a 0.1% rise in June. US-China tariff tensions remain in focus with the potential for an extension to the 12 August truce deadline.
US futures are trading higher and the dollar index is slightly lower ahead of key US inflation data this week. It comes after the major indices closed Friday in the green with the Nasdaq hitting fresh closing highs. According to the Financial Times and Reuters, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) have agreed to pay 15% of China chip revenues to the US government.
Oil and gold are trading lower ahead of US-Russia talks on Friday in Alaska on the war in Ukraine, with the potential for Russia’s oil sanctions to come to an end.
UK JOBS DATA
Two pieces of data paint a gloomy picture for the UK labour market. The KPMG and REC jobs report saw hiring activity drop again in July, while growth in starting salaries slowed to its lowest level in over four years. Separately, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said only 57% of private sector employers were planning to hire staff over the next three months.
This comes ahead of the latest official ONS unemployment figures. Last month’s data saw the unemployment rate rise to 4.7%, a four year high, while pay growth between March and May fell to 5% and vacancies continued to decline. This weakness was a major factor behind last week’s interest rate cut from the Bank of England.
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Tuesday’s labour market data is expected to show that in the three months to June, the unemployment rate remained elevated, at 4.7%. The Bank of England is expecting the unemployment rate to hit 4.8% in the third quarter of 2025 and rise gradually to just under 5% by the middle of next year.
With a shaky domestic economy, global trade uncertainty, this year’s cost increases for businesses and potential tax hikes in the Budget, businesses are expressing caution by refraining from taking on the additional fixed cost of extra staff hires where they can. Plus there is a lot of uncertainty around what the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) tools will mean for the jobs market.
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